Good NewsWar veterans stage ‘eat-in’ at Iraqi restaurant after feared hate crime
A week after an Iraqi restaurant in Massachusetts was vandalized — its owners feared it was a hate crime — more than 100 veterans and their families staged an "eat in" as a goodwill gesture.
An unidentified man hurled a 20-pound rock through the front window of the Babylon Restaurant in Lowell, Massachusetts, unsettling its owners, recent immigrants, Leyla Al-Zubayd and Ahmed Al-Zubaidi.
Veterans for Peace coordinator Patrick Scanlon heard about the crime and took action, organizing an "eat-in" at the restaurant with other members of the group. His goal was to fill each of the restaurant's 50 seats. Instead, more than 100 people showed up. The veterans — from World War II, Vietnam, the Korean War, Afghanistan and Iraq — took turns waving flags outside the restaurant and eating inside it.
"To try and intimidate and scare these people, who have been through so much, is not acceptable, either here in Lowell or anywhere else….we're just outraged," Scanlon said.
"We're here for them. We're here to support them."
The store owners shared their gratitude for the veterans' actions to the press:
"This solidarity gives us the courage to stand," Ahmed Al-Zubaydi said. "There is no more fear in my heart because there are such nice people behind us."
"It was so awesome, you cannot even imagine," Leyla added. "It was an honour for us to have them here and to see that support that they gave us."
The Lowell Sun reports that the vandal turned himself in and has been arrested and charged with a misdemeanour. Lowell Police found no evidence of a hate crime. While Scanlon "voiced skepticism that hate wasn't involved, but said it was nonetheless important to show support for the family that had been hit hard by fear," the Lowell Sun's Robert Mills wrote.
